Enforcement Chief Counsel Joan McKown to Leave SEC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2010-121

“I have been privileged to work for two decades with a staff that has been consistently intelligent and dedicated…”

Joan McKown
Chief Counsel
SEC Enforcement

Washington, D.C., July 14, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that Joan McKown, the longtime Chief Counsel of the Division of Enforcement, will depart the agency to become a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Jones Day.

During Ms. McKown's 24-year career at the SEC, she has played a key role in establishing various enforcement policies at the agency and in reviewing proposed enforcement actions before they are recommended to the Commission for approval.

"The Enforcement Division has greatly benefited from Joan's considerable abilities as a lawyer and from her knowledge of the Commission's role as chief enforcer of the nation's securities laws," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "Her expertise in the law and her historical perspective on enforcement matters are qualities we will miss at the SEC. We wish her well."

Ms. McKown said, "It has been an honor to serve the Commission and support its mission to protect investors. I have been privileged to work for two decades with a staff that has been consistently intelligent and dedicated, and is always willing to creatively meet new challenges."

Ms. McKown joined the SEC in 1986 as a Staff Attorney in the Office of the General Counsel. She moved to the Enforcement Division the following year and served in multiple positions, including Branch Chief and Assistant Director, before being named Chief Counsel in 1993.

As Chief Counsel, Ms. McKown has counseled SEC Commissioners about enforcement policies and practices, spearheaded the implementation of enforcement-related portions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and been involved in settlement negotiations of hundreds of SEC enforcement cases.

In 2004, Ms. McKown received the SEC's Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor the agency bestows on an individual. In 1994, she received the SEC's Stanley Sporkin Award, which recognizes SEC staff who have made exceptionally tenacious and insightful contributions to the enforcement of the federal securities laws.

Prior to her SEC service, Ms. McKown was an attorney at the U.S. Small Business Administration. She earned her BA from Vanderbilt University in 1980, and her JD with Honors from Drake University Law School in 1983. She clerked for Senior Judge J. Smith Henley of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.